What's Growing On? Hort Club Happenings

The Horticulture Club at UGA has had a busy 2023 so far!  We kicked off the year with our annual Rose Sale. Our members sold handmade bouquets and small houseplants grown in our greenhouse. We were very proud to sell roses from Rosa Prima, an international grower and distributor of high-quality roses. Our connection with this company was made during our Spring 2022 trip to Miami, FL, where we visited Rosa Prima's office and warehouse and other nurseries, gardens, and more.  One of the main goals of our trips is to help our members build their networks within the industry.

Soon after we wrapped up our Rose Sale, our members traveled to Atlanta to attend GGIA Plant Day at the state capitol.  Along with Georgia Green Industry Association members, we handed out Monstera plants. We talked to elected officials and their staffers about the importance of the green industry and what we do as a club. We grew and handed out around 500 monsteras.  James Greenhouse donated the seeds.  This was another excellent opportunity for our members to gain connections and see a different side of horticulture.

Bringing back an old tradition, we took a group of students to compete at the National Collegiate Landscaping Competition in March. This year, the event was held at Mississippi State University in Starkville.  Our members competed in almost every event, many of them in things they had never tried before. We are so proud of how well they did! We are extremely grateful to the following companies for sponsoring us: Color Burst, Black Pearl Management, Select Trees, Ruppert Landscape, and Chatham Landscape Services.

In April, we held our annual Spring Plant Sale.  In addition to plants we grew ourselves, we partnered with several local nurseries and the UGArden to sell lots and lots of plants! Despite some rain delays, we are happy to report that our sale was successful.  We could give out seven scholarships this year and pay for our experiential learning trips with the money raised! Working at our sales is an excellent way for our members to gain real-world experience, plant identification knowledge, and customer service skills and earn hours to go on our trips.  

Our big spring trip this year was to Puerto Rico!  We visited a coffee plantation, a tropical national forest, and the botanical garden at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. We also went ziplining, hiking, and exploring Old San Juan. 

This academic year promises to be just as busy. We plan to have our Fall Plant Sale on October 13-15, followed by a trip to Washington, D.C. There, we will visit museums and national gardens, and hopefully, we will be able to speak to our elected officials about the importance of horticulture. We also plan to attend NCLC again, this time at BYU Provo in Utah!

Zoe Prince, Hort Club President, and Julie Campbell, Hort Club Faculty Mentor